Lost and found
by wolfypuppypiles
Summary: Derek finds a were-child in the woods that turns out to be Laura's daughter. Derek takes her in and raises her with Stiles' help but raising a semi-feral were-toddler has its issues.
1. Chapter 1

Derek and Stiles had been dating for six months and everything was perfect. Stiles was everything Derek had ever dreamed of having in a mate and he couldn't ask for more. Being a part of Scotts pack and being a part of the family that came with it along with having Stiles he thought his life was full. But of course he was wrong.

Stiles had just headed off to school for the day so Derek had breathed in the scent of the morning air and started running. There was a track that ran through he forest that he particularly liked because it was long and uninterrupted by anything man made. Running through the deep woods, away from any other noise or distractions allowed the wolf inside to come out and as he ran.

Running was pure, a single goal, a clear mind, and it helped to balance the human in him out with his wolf. His mother had always said that his wolf was a special part of him and that it wasn't just something that he turned into, it was another shape of himself. He was his wolf and it needed to be in tune with his human because they both reflected who he was.

This became even truer now that he had the ability to full shift, as his mother had and he felt closer to her whenever he went running.

There was a noise to his left and Derek suddenly became aware of a dark shape running with him. This had happened before and Derek usually outran it but this time he stopped and let out a roar towards where the shape had been.

Derek's mouth snapped shut at the whined growl that responded and sniffed the air. It smelt like wolf and it certainly sounded like one but he knew there no real wolves in Beacon Hills. Derek moved closer to where the noise came from and watched the bush closely for any movement.

He thought maybe it was just a dog but as he sniffed the air again he knew it couldn't be, the smell was too wild, too familiar.

But as he breathed the scent in deeper he noticed something. A trace of something else. Human. The tiny thing that had been following him was a werewolf?

Derek furrowed his brow in confusion. There was something else about that scent. Something that called at his memory teasing him with its answer on the tip of his tongue because the human part of the scent was familiar. He just didn't know where from. Before he could think on it much further the bush rustled again and out of the leaves stepped a very dirty….child.

The kid looked feral, long matted hair full of leaves, teeth bared in a growl and not a stitch of clothing on her. But something about her dark brown eyes, even as angry as they looked now, called to Derek making him instantly realize what was familiar about her scent.

"Laura?"

The kid instantly stopped snarling and looked up at Derek with confusion, then in a tiny whisper. "You know Mama?"


	2. Chapter 2

Derek honestly had no idea what he was going to tell Stiles. The human had asked if they could get a puppy and he had said no because it would ruin the furniture and the floors and now he had a were-toddler that could throw tantrums, with claws.

It had taken a while to get the kid to come with him but she was obviously hungry and recognized his scent as much as he recognized hers. She didn't let him come to close to her but had eventually followed him home and was now staring at him from under his bed.

The girl was small and covered in dirt with matted brown hair that hung past her waist and the same hazel eyes as her mother. The same glare too. She was the angriest little girl Derek had ever seen and he'd been growled at every time he tried to get near her.

What was he supposed to do with a toddler he found in the woods that may or may not be his niece? The wolf sniffed again and shook his head, there was no denying that scent. It was Laura's mixed with something else, Derek supposed it was from the girl's father, whoever that was. Honestly he didn't at all want to think about some guy that got his sister pregnant.

Derek realized his teeth had sharpened at the thought and shook his head again telling his wolf to calm down. He looked again to where the girl was watching him from her hiding spot under his bed and decided that he should at least feed her.

What he was going to feed a hungry toddler/wolf he didn't know but he found his answer when he opened the fridge. Stiles had left him some mince from last lights pasta with a note telling him how to re-heat it. Derek rolled his eyes at the note and muttered under his breath at his stupid boyfriend.

"I know how to re-heat some damn mince Stiles." He knew his boyfriend did it mostly out of habit from when he was living with his dad. Derek knew that Stiles used to look after his Dad but the Sheriff had Melissa to do that now. The two had gotten married almost a year ago, making Scott and Stiles officially brothers. Scott had married Kira a few months later and were now expecting a little girl of their own. Derek didn't think anyone knew what the child would be when it had three species to choose from but he knew Stiles was hoping for a wolf/kitsune hybrid so he could have the coolest little niece ever.

Derek laughed at the thought of Stiles trying to babysit a werewolf that could create fox fire and took the meat out of fridge, dropping it in fright when he almost tripped over something at his feet.

The man looked down at his boots to see a wolf puppy hungrily eating the dropped mince and sniffed the air. It still smelt like the girl he found just _wilder_.

"A full shifter huh? How did you that so quick?" When Derek had acquired the ability to full shift it had taken a lot of concentration to be able to do it and it took even more concentration to turn back and here this kid was doing it like it was nothing.

The mince disappeared within seconds and the pup looked up at Derek for more, whining a little in emphasis of her hunger.

"Turn back into a human and I'll get you some more."

She only huffed in annoyance and glared him with glowing yellow eyes so Derek raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms making his own wolf eyes glow. The pup huffed again and pushed the empty bowl of mince towards him with that same grumpy expression but Derek closed the fridge and returned her glare.

Finally, after a few minutes of glaring at each other, the pup yapped at him and ran off coming back a minute later in her human form with the same angry expression her wolf had.

The girl came to stand in front of Derek and kicked the empty bowl towards him. Derek picked it up, watching her warily.

"What's your name?"

The girl said nothing and Derek sighed.

"My names Derek. I'm your…uncle I guess."

She still said nothing.

"If you don't tell me your name I'm going to have to make one up for you."

"Riley."

Derek raised his eyebrows in surprise. Laura had a best friend named Riley when they were growing up. The man nodded and opened the fridge again, pulling out a steak he had planned to have for dinner.

Riley grabbed it and started tearing into it before Derek had a chance to get out a frying pan.

"I was going to cook that for you."

The girl sat on the floor to eat the steak and ignored Derek as he rolled his eyes and walked past her to go to his room.

He didn't have anything for a child but she needed to wear something so he pulled out one of his thicker t-shirts and turned to walk back to the kitchen only to see her standing in the doorway, steak blood dripping from her fingers and chin.

If he was Stiles he would have jumped a foot in the air at the sight of her but Derek only creased his eyebrows.

"You're a mess. You need a bath."

Riley was following Derek everywhere anyway so it wasn't hard to get her to the bathroom and Derek was surprised to find it wasn't hard to get her in the water either.

Derek's shower was combined with his bath so he simply put the plug in and turned the shower on, knowing it would be easier to wash Riley's hair that way. Derek heard a squeal from behind him and barely had time to turn around before he was splashed with water as Riley jumped into the bath.

She had her mouth open to the spray of shower water and drank it as her hair stuck to her now wet body, the dirt slipping from her skin to pool at the bottom of the bath.

After she finished drinking she looked down at the water now up to her ankles and started happily jumping and kicking the water. Derek let out a small smile at the sight of her playing and grabbed a bottle of Stiles' body wash, tipping some in the water and swirling it around to create bubbles in the water.

The water was already dirty but Riley was looking much cleaner and seemed more comfortable in the water. Grabbing a cloth, Derek lathered it with soap and reached an arm out to the girl who immediately jumped backwards out of his reach. Riley sniffed at the cloth seeming to like the vanilla smell and took the cloth from Derek's hand.

"You can't just sniff it Riley, clean the dirt off you, you'll feel better afterwards." Riley watched him closely as she ran the cloth over her arms and tummy, smiling as it left trails of bubbles over her now clean and pink skin.

"Would you like me to wash your hair?" Derek held out a shampoo bottle out to her so she could sniff it and watched as she nodded warily and stepped closer to him.

Derek kept his movements slow so she could anticipate what he would do next as he squeezed some of the shampoo into his hand and brought it up to her head. Riley held the cloth close to her chest as Derek used gentle hands to massage her head and run his fingers through her long hair. Derek had never had to wash so much hair before but finished quickly and turned off the water, watching Riley carefully climb out before grabbing a towel for her.

Riley seemed to have warmed up to Derek a little more and stood still while he dried her off, squeezing the water he could from her hair and quickly twisting her hair into a loose braid from the little he remembered from his childhood with two sisters. He handed her his T-shirt and helped her put it on smiling about how big it was on her, its hem brushing her toes.

"You tired Riley?" She yawned so wide Derek could see all her teeth and she nodded as he got up and lead her to his bed.

"You can sleep in here till we get you one of your own."

Derek watched in confusion as she dragged the blanket from on top of his bed and crawled under the bed frame to sleep curled with the blanket on the floor. She looked comfortable enough and decided to just leave her there while he made a call or two.

If this girl had been living in the woods by herself Derek wanted to know if she was medically okay but couldn't take her to a normal doctor when she could shift at any time.

"Hey Melissa I have a little bit of a situation here… no it's not Stiles he's fine….no it's not anyone else in the pack it's just a little hard to explain on the phone. Could you come over I'd really appreciate your help? Thanks I'll see you in a little bit. Bye."


	3. Chapter 3

Melissa peered at the small girl behind Derek's legs and waved only to get a growl in return. Derek twisted awkwardly around to look at the were-child from where she was clutching his pant leg.

"Riley no growling. This is Melissa she's my friend." Riley was still glaring at the nurse and Derek knew it was just her being instinctively wary of new people. The man knelt down slowly and took her hand in his.

"Use your nose, what does she smell like?" The girl looked at Derek surprised and took a hesitant step toward Melissa to sniff the air. She seemed to like the smell and visibly relaxed as she cocked her head in confusion instead. Derek knew what she could smell because he smelt it too.

"She smells warm doesn't she? She smells kind and gentle."

"Mama." Derek nodded.

"She smells like a mum." Riley seemed to have decided this new person was safe so Derek, still bending over a little to hold her hand, walked her over to Melissa.

"Riley this is Melissa, she's Scott's mum." Riley's face lit up at that name.

"Alpha?"

"Yup that's right and you'll get to meet him later maybe."

Derek had told the girl about the pack and what they smelt like so she would be prepared. Introducing her to so many people in a short space of time was one thing but asking her to trust them all as well was another thing entirely. Derek didn't want to overwhelm her but she would have to meet everybody at some point and he could definitely use some help.

She seemed to like Melissa though and Derek watched as Riley waved at the nurse. Melissa smiled sweetly and waved back, getting out her bag to start checking her over.

Riley hadn't liked the nurses tools, if her snatching the stethoscope out of Melissa's hand and refusing to give it back had been anything to go by, but had gotten the all clear on her health. Derek had held the squirming girl on his lap during the tiresome process and swapped her a meatball for the stethoscope. He was running out of meat at this point and he figured the girl knew it.

Thankfully Melissa offered to pick up supplies for him.

"Have you told Stiles yet? I don't want to go behind his back on anything."

Derek sighed and distractedly wiped the meat sauce off a growling Riley's face. She seemed to do that a lot.

"I don't really know how to explain it to him but he gets home around four so I guess I'll tell him then." Stiles was studying to take over his Dad's job as Sheriff, he had to make it as a deputy first of course but Stiles was always about his end goals. Derek really had no idea how to tell Stiles about Riley.

What was he supposed to say? 'Hey honey so I kind of adopted a were-toddler and we are parents now, sorry I didn't ask your opinion on the matter.'

Melissa laughed at the poor mans bewildered expression. "Stiles loves you honey and you know he's always wanted kids, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"I don't even know how to look after her besides the few things I learnt from babysitting my cousins."

Melissa smiled again and pointed to the little girl playing with Derek's giant fingers.

"Well you're doing a good job so far and you taking her in and loving her is more than what she had in the woods. You're doing a good thing Derek and we're all here to help."

Derek thanked the woman again and hugged her before she left, letting Riley just wave to her from where she sat under his chair. Letting out a big breath Derek allowed himself to relax a little. He felt better about the whole situation and was coming to terms with the fact that Riley really would be staying.

He was the only family she had that he knew of and he would have to do the whole legal adoption thing but Riley really was part of their family now.

The girl was still under Derek chair but had shifted to her wolf form, dark fur cleaner than it was before and the giant T-shirt even bigger on the small pups' body. Riley was wrestling with the shirt attempting to free herself from the fabric but only managing to get tangled even worse. Derek chucked and pulled the shirt from her fuzzy little body.

"Don't ruin that shirt okay, I like that one and you're getting some new clothes soon anyway."

The pup yapped at him and snatched the shirt from his hands, carrying it in her mouth as she ran around the room before tripping on it and tumbling down into a heap. She seemed unbothered by her fumble and started wrestling the shirt again.

"Don't get any holes in it Riley, I mean it." She ignored him in favor of her new toy.

Derek watched as the wolf puppy began to rub her chin and chest into the shirt and Derek knew she was scent rolling it. Usually wolves did this to either claim the object or to disguise their scent so that their prey wouldn't be able to sense them coming, he really hoped it was the former but there was just no telling with Riley. Either way he wasn't getting that shirt back and he knew it.

He added _-New shirt_ to the shopping list on the fridge.


	4. Chapter 4

Derek glanced anxiously at the clock on the wall and wished his wolf hearing would stop focusing on every single tic as the hands moved. Riley didn't seem to notice how nervous he was and just continued her exploration around the house.

Derek was kind of surprised she hadn't done it earlier but kept tabs on her as she went exploring through the loft, t-shirt stashed away under Derek's bed, nose to the air to find out everything she could from the space. She was still in wolf form and occasionally rubbed her chin and neck over things she particularly liked.

Both were-wolves' heads whipped round to the door when a car engine made its noisy way to the building. Derek relaxed just a little when he recognized it as Melissa's car and not Stiles' noisy jeep.

Riley came sprinting to the door and crouched, wiggling her butt like she was getting ready to pounce on whoever came through that door. Knowing that Melissa probably wouldn't appreciate the fright Derek scooped up the puppy and held her to his chest as she squirmed and chewed playfully on his fingers.

Derek was looking down at Riley with a smile when his ears pricked and he noticed something. There were two people coming towards them. There was the rustling of shopping bags and two sets of footfalls and two voices. Derek almost dropped Riley when he realized that it was Stiles coming up the stairs with Melissa.

Thinking his boyfriend should probably be told gently and not with a child/wolf attacking him Derek quickly sprinted to his bedroom and slid his niece under the bed and into the pile of blankets she had dragged there.

"Riley you need to stay here while I tell Stiles about you but then you can meet him okay?"

Derek handed her the shirt she had claimed and ran to the door and closed it before she could run out.

"I'm sorry, Melissa will be with you soon I just have to tell Stiles first."

Derek felt bad but knew it was for the best. If Stiles got too freaked out Riley could attack or get frightened and it would all end in trouble. If Riley was really staying then they needed to get off on the right foot.

"Derek? Babe, where are you?"

The Hale ran back to where Stiles was helping Melissa drag in the groceries and pecked his boyfriend on the lips.

"Hey, sorry I just had to get something sorted _in the bedroom._ " The last part was directed towards Melissa who immediately nodded and picked up a few bags before heading to where Riley was.

Stiles seemed very confused but Derek started talking before he could.

"Why were you driving with Melissa? I didn't hear your jeep, did it crap out again?"

Derek was stalling but he still didn't quite know how to tell the human about their new family member. He cringed as barking started up from the bedroom.

"Yeah she gave me a ride while the jeep got towed. Is that a dog?" Stiles looked confused and excited at the same time and Derek just winced.

"It's a wolf actually."

"What?" Stiles started following the barking and Derek grabbed his hand and dragged him to the couch, making him sit down. Then embarrassingly, all his words came out in a rush.

"Okay, so I was running this morning and I just found her and she's my niece so what am I supposed to do? And I know we didn't talk about having a family and I know you wanted to have a girl named after your mum and I even had some idea's but she's like three or something? And I just can't hand her off to some orphanage or something she's family and plus the whole were-wolf thing-"

Stiles was growing more confused with each word so he finally stopped the endless word vomit and held his hands up.

"Derek, hang on and just stop for a minute. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Her name is Riley, she's Laura's daughter. She's a full shifting were-wolf, I found her in the woods and we're keeping her okay?" Standing up from the couch Derek led a confused Stiles with him till they were at the door to their bedroom.

As soon as he opened the door Derek had tiny fangs and claws in his face.

"Riley calm down, do you want to meet Stiles or not?" The angry growling stopped as she peered over his shoulder at the terrified looking human.

Derek liked to think that he had pretty good reflexes but he seemed to be having an off day because Riley jumped straight over his shoulder and onto Stiles' chest, barley giving the human time to catch her.

Derek was worried about how Riley would react but she seemed to like Stiles and was rubbing her head all over him. Stiles had no choice but to hold still as the fuzzy body pressed into him. Derek smiled and let himself relax. Stiles' scent had always been like catnip to Derek but he had been worried that the traces of anxiety and Adderall would unnerve Riley or prevent her from fully trusting him.

Stiles chuckled and finally relaxed enough to wind his hands through the pups' fur. Riley was still sniffing him and pushing her nose into his pulse, occasionally licking the skin there.

Derek realized it must have been from having Stiles' scent all over the loft and since he had already told Riley all about his boyfriend it was like she had already met him in a way.

"Well she's very cute and I've always wanted a puppy so I am definitely not opposed to having her here." Stiles looked at Derek with a seriousness in his eyes that made Derek's heart race a little bit.

"She's your family babe, of course we're keeping her." The Hale smiled, relieved, and pulled his boyfriend in for a kiss because while he hadn't voiced his concerns about what Stiles would think, he had known anyway.

Melissa made a noise from the bedroom where she had been the entire time, making the two men blush and break apart.

"So now you just have to get all the legal stuff sorted and she'll be officially yours. Stiles you'll have to tell your Dad he's a grandfather and Scott that he's an uncle."

Stiles laughed, both at Melissa's comment and at how Riley was wriggling in his hands, and set the wolf down before replying.

"I feel kind of bad for Scott and Kira, they thought they would have kids first, you know, with the whole pregnant thing." The nurse laughed and patted the boy on the shoulder as all three of them watched the littlest Hale scampered off down the hallway.

"I'm sure they'd be thrilled. Maybe she'll be a good friend for their little one when she comes." Derek watched as Melissa's eyes lit up as she talked about little ones.

"I'm so happy for you Melissa. You must be thrilled at getting to be a grandma."

The woman's eyes teared up a little and her smile was watery but a happy one none the less.

"I am. And now I have two granddaughters, one from each of my boys." She wrapped her arms around both men and squeezed once before letting go and brushing her eyes.

"Okay, now go find your little girl, I have some clothes for her."


	5. Chapter 5

Derek watched in amusement and pride as Riley crept slowly across the floor, her small wolf body pressed close to the ground, before pouncing and happily snapping at the moth that evaded her stamping paws.

Melissa and Derek had wrestled the girl into her new clothes only to find them flung all over the house five minutes later with the wolf puppy running around on all fours.

Stiles was now in the kitchen making lunch for them all while one very happy nurse watched her granddaughter play.

Derek got up from the couch and walked towards his boyfriend, pausing in the doorway to just watch as the human puttered around, cutting vegetables and stirring the meat in the pan, humming as he went. Derek liked to watch Stiles like this, always when the boy didn't know he was watching. Just small moments, ordinary moments, that reminded him of everything that Stiles gave him. Love, warmth, consistency, security.

After his house and family burnt down he'd been alone, and everything he had done to rectify that had ended in other people dying or leaving him again. But not Stiles, never Stiles. This kid had just shown up and changed everything.

Stiles was his Mate, and when he had Stiles, he had everything.

Walking silently into the kitchen, Derek slipped his hands around his human's waist and nuzzled into his shoulder, making a noise between a growl and a purr. Stiles liked to joke that he made that noise when he was mad at how much he loved him.

Stiles stilled when he felt Derek on him and smiled as he continued stirring the mince but lifted one hand to massage into Derek's hair.

"Hey you." Derek rumbled at Stiles' voice, making the kid laugh.

"What's got you so happy?"

Derek breathed deep, inhaling his favourite scent in the universe. Stiles' skin smelt like warmth, family and home.

"You. This. Us. Our family."

"She's beautiful Der." Derek straightened as Stiles turned in his arms so they were facing each other, Derek's hands looped around the boys waist, Stiles own hands resting on Derek's chest.

Stiles looked into Derek's eyes with a smile and lifted a hand to gently scratch at the older man's stubble.

"So we're parents now?"

Derek smiled so wide, his teeth were showing.

"Looks like."

"So is she gonna call you Dad or Uncle Derek? Or will you be Dad and I'll be Papa? Or you'll be Wolf Dad and I'll be Human da-"

Derek cut him off with a kiss, pressing his smiling lips to the cheeky smirk on Stiles' face. He could hardly concentrate with Stiles' hands trailing up his chest, over his shoulders and up to his neck, tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck.

Lips still pressed to Stiles' own, the wolf mumbled against them. "I love you Stiles."

Derek felt Stiles' mouth stretch into a smile.

"Love you too Der."

Derek was about to kiss Stiles again when he heard something charging towards them, small clawed feet on the tiles, and felt something bite his ankles. He looked to see Riley latched onto his leg, chewing playfully at his ankle. The older wolf laughed and scooped her up.

"Looks like someone wants attention." He held her squirming body in his hands as she tried to nip at his fingers.

"Maybe we could take her to play with her Uncle Scott? I'm sure he'd be more than happy to run around with her and she has to meet him at some point. Also we need to tell my Dad."

Derek nodded and Stiles giggled as Riley licked his nose.

"We need to tell the pack, I just don't want to overwhelm her. Bringing Scott over and maybe Kira and your Dad might be okay. She's been waiting to meet Scott for a while now."

Derek turned Riley towards him, her ears pricking up as he spoke.

"Riley, do you want to meet Scott?"

The wolf pup barked and her eyes glowed yellow. Derek nodded, making his own eyes glow blue.

"Yes, he's the Alpha. Do you want to meet him?"

Riley barked again and wriggled out of Derek's grip to drop to the floor and scampered off, tail wagging madly behind her.

Derek and Stiles followed her to their bedroom where she clamped a bundle of clothes between her jaws and carried them off to her grandma to help her get them on. Once Melissa had gotten the girl, now in human form, dressed they were ready. Stiles dialled the well-known number and waited for his best friend to pick up.

"Hey buddy, I have a little surprise for you."


End file.
